Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1105 [Ming Dynasty Monks and Taoists Department]

The day the Dunhuang manuscripts arrived in Beijing, there was no stir.

The next day, the doctor from the Buddhist and Taoist Department was called over.

The Monk and Taoist Records Office of the Song Dynasty were merged into the Monk and Taoist Department by Zhu Guoxiang. It was affiliated to the Ministry of Rites and was on the same level as the Honglu Temple. It was in charge of religious affairs throughout the country, including Manichaeism and Nestorianism.

The top leader is a doctor, who is in charge of all religions.

There were three departments under the Ministry of Education: the Buddhist Record Office, the Taoist Record Office, and the Miscellaneous Record Office. The chief officer of each department was a Yuanwailang, who was a regular Jinshi official. The deputy officials of each department were practitioners of various religions.

The doctor in the Ministry of Monks and Taoists was named Mao Kui. He was nearly eighty years old, but he refused to retire no matter what.

When Li Bao attacked Fujian, Mao Kui was already the Fujian Transport Commissioner of the Former Song Dynasty.

He colluded with Fuzhou officials to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but was never valued. He also avoided corruption cases time and time again, and was still alive and well in his seventies.

This person practices both Buddhism and Taoism, and advocates that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are one. Zhu Ming has let him manage religious affairs for more than five years.

If the six-year term is up, it would be time to retire.

Even if he didn't apply, Zhu Ming would force him to retire. Why was he still occupying an official position at his age?

Mao Kui came to the Hanlin Academy on crutches. When he saw Zhu Guoxiang, he was obviously stunned. Then he bowed and greeted him: "Your Majesty, Mao Kui, pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Zhu Guoxiang smiled kindly: "Old sir, please take a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

A clerk from the Hanlin Academy had already brought a chair over and took Mao Kui's walking stick to help hold it.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Here are some scriptures from various religions. Ask the Buddhist and Taoist Bureau to make a copy and study it before deciding whether to publish it. Some of the scriptures may cause controversy."

"Criticism?" Mao Kui didn't understand.

Zhu Guoxiang took out a stack of scriptures: "For example, these are the scriptures of the Three-Level Religion, which were banned many times during the Sui and Tang dynasties."

Mao Kui had been in charge of religious affairs for many years, so he naturally knew what the Three Stages Sect was. It was a branch of Buddhism during the Sui and Tang dynasties.

This religion advocates asceticism. Monks can only eat one meal a day, and the food must be begged. When monks see pedestrians, they must bow to them. They call on the world to give alms to monks. After the monks die, their bodies are placed in the wild for birds and beasts to eat, giving alms to living beings. They oppose the creation of Buddha statues, believing that all living beings are true Buddhas, and the only Buddha to be chanted is Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva...

Since the scriptures of the Third Level Religion were banned, Mao Kui had only heard of it but did not know its specific teachings.

A Hanlin official handed the scripture to Mao Kui, who took it in both hands and read it carefully. Before he finished reading, he was shocked and said, "No wonder the Sui and Tang dynasties banned this religion. This is a heresy in Buddhism."

What I said before is just the teachings and practice methods of the Third Level Religion.

The real reason why the Three-Level Sect was banned was that it believed that the country had entered the Dharma Ending Age since the Sui Dynasty, and that it was the filthy world after the destruction of the Pure Land... It was a bit weird.

In the Tang Dynasty, although the spread of Sanjiejiao was prohibited, it was still regarded as a branch of Buddhism in the "Zhenyuan Shijiao Lu". Since the Song Dynasty, Sanjiejiao has been officially expelled from Buddhism.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Even if the Buddhist monks and Taoists Bureau does not spread the scriptures of the Three Orders Sect, as well as the Manichean and Nestorian scriptures such as "A Brief Account of the Buddhist Rituals of Manichaeism" and "A Praise of the Three Powers of the Nestorian Sect", they should copy a copy and keep it."

"Yes, sir!" Mao Kui stood up tremblingly.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Take them all. Even if the scriptures of various religions are not unique, we should carefully compare the contents. There may be some words and sentences that are different from the current ones, which are worthy of the practitioners of various religions to study and verify."

It was impossible for Mao Kui to take it all away by himself. There were a total of twenty carts of Dunhuang manuscripts, and more than 90% of them were Buddhist scriptures.

The imperial guards assisted the Hanlin Academy servants in moving boxes of scriptures of various religions onto carts and transporting them to the Buddhist and Taoist Office.

Painters and Shazhou monks have already made a preliminary arrangement and classified the rare scriptures separately.

After returning to the Buddhist and Taoist Temple, Mao Kui first read by himself.

He picked up a copy of the "Ten-Recitation Bhikkhu Precepts" and didn't pay much attention to it at first. However, when he saw the year and month when the sutra was copied, he immediately sat up straight and became cautious in his movements.

This is a handwritten copy from the first year of Jianchu in Xiliang (405 AD)!

Even if the content is the same as the current precepts, the fact that it was copied is enough to make it a temple treasure or a family heirloom.

After putting the book away, Mao Kui picked up another one.

After more than ten minutes, Mao Kui's hands were already shaking.

There were two Taoist scriptures in front of him, one was "Laozi Xianger Notes" and the other was "Laozi Huahu Jing".

All of them are Taoist books that have long been lost and only exist in legends!
Mao Kui opened his mouth to call for help, but found that his mouth was dry and he couldn't speak. He took a sip of the cold tea to moisten his throat before saying, "Call all the deputy officials of each department, immediately!"

The chief officials of the Buddhist and Taoist Departments were all Jinshi graduates, so naturally they worked in the yamen every day.

The adjutants are all practitioners and usually live in Buddhist temples and Taoist temples. It will take some time to call them over.

An hour later, all the officials of the Buddhist and Taoist Department gathered in front of Mao Kui. The current deputy official of the Taoist Record Office of the Buddhist and Taoist Department was called Huangfu Tan, who was considered a disciple of Xue Daoguang. He was originally a famous doctor in Shandong, but fled to the southeast to practice Taoism in Tiantai Mountain and go down the mountain to treat people.

Historically, Zhao Gou's mother suffered from eye disease, and none of the imperial doctors could cure her. In the end, it was Huangfu Tan who cured her. He did not want to stay in Hangzhou, so Zhao Gou sent him to Qingcheng Mountain to manage the Shangqing Palace. After his death, he was buried in the Tianshi Pool of the Shangqing Palace in Qingcheng Mountain (a tombstone was unearthed later).

There are many great Taoists nowadays, such as Master Sadhu Gyatso.

But Master Sa was a bit weird, which Zhu Ming didn't like. Master Sa also understood this, so he left the capital and went to the south to continue practicing Taoism. His chemistry became more and more advanced. He was especially good at gunpowder and thunder, and also practiced various illusions!

Huangfu Tan was a disciple of the Southern School of the Golden Elixir Sect, and had some affinity with Emperor Zhu. He was also appointed to the Imperial Hospital because of his superb medical skills, and was even a professor at the Luoyang Medical College.

With all these buffs stacked up, Huangfu Tan became an official of the Buddhist and Taoist Department. Because all his superiors were civil servants, he himself was the highest-ranking Taoist in the country.

"I want you to pay attention?"

"Is Laozi's transformation into Hu Jing?"

Huangfu Tan, who was highly skilled in Taoism, usually behaved calmly, but at this moment he was dumbfounded and stunned by the two Taoist scriptures.

Mao Kui said: "These two Taoist scriptures come from the secret room of the Shazhou Buddhist Cave. In addition, there are some Taoist scriptures. Find some Taoists to copy them and send them to all the Taoist temples across the country for study."

Next to him was a monk named Zhenhui from Mount Wutai, who was a junior fellow of Monk Zhenbao, the anti-Jin leader of Mount Wutai. At this moment, he was critically reading the scriptures of the Three Stages Sect.

"They are all heresy! They are all false scriptures!"

Master Zhenhui tore the Third Level Teachings scripture into several pages with great force.

When he was about to tear up the book, Mao Kui stopped him and grabbed Master Zhenhui's hand and said, "Master, you are obsessed with appearances."

Master Zhenhui then stopped and put his palms together and said, "Amitabha, I have violated the precept of anger."

Mao Kui said, "His Majesty the Emperor has ordered that although the Third Order Scriptures cannot be spread, copies must be made and stored in the Buddhist and Taoist Department. As for the originals, they must be sent back to the palace for storage. The ones you tore off... can only be glued back together."

Should it be sent back to the palace for collection?

Master Zhenhui seemed somewhat embarrassed as he looked at the pages of scriptures that he had torn into pieces.

Mao Kui added: "We have brought back more than ten carts of Buddhist scriptures from Shazhou. Please ask the master to gather the monks to compare them. After all, many of them are ancient scriptures. If there are any differences in words and sentences, the monks of various Buddhist sects can discuss and debate them."

"That's the truth." Master Zhenhui said.

There was also a religious figure at the scene, a Nestorian monk from Liangzhou. He not only assisted the civil officials in managing Nestorianism, but also managed other religions such as Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism.

Nestorianism is very important. After all, the Kereyid tribe, the largest power in the northern desert, has a large number of Nestorian believers. In addition, there are also many people who believe in Nestorianism in the Hexi Corridor and Xinjiang.

The Ming court was reforming Nestorianism.

The good Nestorian doctrines can be retained, such as not recognizing Mary as the Virgin Mary, not worshipping images but only the cross, not recognizing the existence of purgatory, church staff not eating meat, allowing ancestor worship, opposing transubstantiation, Christ having humanity, etc.

The most important reform is that the canon of religious affairs should be elected. The canon of religious affairs should be elected first, and then reported to the court for approval before it can take effect. The religious affairs system of each diocese must be under the jurisdiction of the court!

This reform must be written into the scriptures of Nestorianism. All Nestorians must know that the Chinese emperor is the ruler of the world and has the right to appoint the chief administrators of religious affairs at all levels.

As for where the emperor's power came from, let the Nestorian monks make up their own stories, and they must make them plausible and well-founded.

Nestorian monks from the former Western Xia Kingdom have now compiled several versions, but Zhu Ming is not very satisfied with any of them.

If the report is not compiled properly, the Nestorian officials in the Buddhist and Taoist Affairs Bureau will have to leave!
Master Zhenhui quickly sent a telegram, asking the eminent monks from all provinces in the country to come to Luoyang to study the ancient scriptures together. More than ten carts of Buddhist scriptures were enough for them to slowly sort out and study.

Huangfu Tan summoned Luoyang Taoist priests to copy Laozi Xianger Zhu and Laozi Huahu Jing first, and then printed them with movable type and distributed them to Taoist temples across the country. There were not many Taoist scriptures left, so he first studied them with Luoyang Taoist priests, and if there were any special points, he would call Taoist priests across the country to discuss them.

As for other religions, monks can study them but cannot make them public.

Whether it was Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism, or Manichaeism, they all had to be reformed according to Emperor Zhu's wishes.

After the reform, the imperial court would be responsible for printing the scriptures of various religions and disseminating them through local religious officials. They would even be sent to the Anxi Protectorate and the Kerait tribe in northern Mobei who believed in Nestorianism.

Zhu Ming originally planned to ban all these religions, but later found that there was no need.

Various religions have coexisted harmoniously in the local area for hundreds of years. Believers have intermarried, their doctrines have been integrated, and they have even united to fight against the expansion of desert religions.

In such a situation, only guidance is needed; forcible banning would be counterproductive.

With the imperial examination paving the way, can other religions still compete with Confucianism?

In the future, there will definitely be a scene where a Nestorian puts down the Bible, picks up the Analects and reads it by lamplight at night, and understands Confucius's benevolence, righteousness and gentlemanliness.

Or a Zoroastrian who has the Avesta on his bookshelf but is buried in the Book of Songs at his desk, trying to understand why "Guan Guan Ju Jiu" is not about love, but about Zhou Li, and why it is related to the Qian Kun hexagram.

The scene was too outrageous, yet extremely realistic.

(End of this chapter)